Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Headlines - Tuesday February 22

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Her name is Facebook An Egyptian couple has named their newborn baby girl after the social networking site that provided the meeting space for the people who would lead the revolution that overthrew the 30-year dictatorship of Hosni Mubarek.

Westboro's Site Crashes, Shirley Phelps Denies Anonymous Involvement

Yesterday a letter purporting to be from Anonymous hackers claimed that the original threat against Westboro was a hoax and not from them. However God Hates Fags has been down all day today. In the clip below, radio host David Pakman talks to Westboro's Shirley Phelps.

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Like it or not, taxpayers of Alaska and the United States, you may be footing part of the bill for the TLC reality show Sarah Palin's Alaska. Thanks to a measure signed into law by the half-term quitter herself, films shot in Alaska qualify for a very generous subsidy.

"Sarah Palin's Alaska," the 8-part TLC reality show, is set to receive $1.2 million in tax credits, helping the program's producers recoup a third of the $3.6 million they spent filming in the Frontier State.

According to a measure, signed into law by then-Gov. Palin in 2008, crews filming in Alaska are eligible to receive subsidies for around 30 percent of their operating costs.

That's not all though. Most companies shooting in Alaska don't pay any taxes anyway, so the tax subsidies are usually sold to other companies.

The subsidies are in the form of transferable tax credits. Many of the companies claiming the tax credits do not have to pay much, if anything, in the form of Alaska taxes, so they sell the tax credits to companies. There have been reports the going rate is 80 to 90 cents on the dollar. Some have been sold the same day they were issued.

Smells like socialized corporate welfare to me! As a reminder -- Alaska receives more money back for taxes paid than any other state, meaning you and I, at least partially, are subsidizing The Adventures of Caribou Barbie.

There are two big whoppers in this section, which is passing through the zeitgeist like ships in the night.

It will allow the Koch Brothers to buy or contract to operate state−owned heating, cooling, and power plants in Wisconsin without a solicitation of bids.

This is what it is about at the end of the day, and their puppet, Governor Walker, is ready to sell the Koch Brothers the state-owned utility system of Wisconsin for pennies on the dollar for his paymasters.

Governor Walker has intentionally muddied the waters concerning unions to muddy waters hoping no one will see the wholescale give-a-way of the state-owned public infrastructure to private interests.

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The bill contains a lot more than a union busting initiative; that's just the gravy.

New Hampshire’s House is scheduled to vote this week whether to repeal a law requiring public schools to offer kindergarten.

The House Education Committee is recommending keeping the requirement, but a minority on the committee is fighting to repeal the law. State Rep. J.R. Hoell, a Dunbarton Republican, argued the bill isn’t about eliminating kindergarten but about giving local voters the control over whether to offer programs.

Good thing we're still there to prevent suicide bombings from becoming more frequent ... oh, wait. "At least 30 people have died after a suicide bomber targeted a government building in northern Afghanistan. The attacker struck as people lined up to collect identity cards in the Imam Saheb district of Kunduz province, a local official said. The Taliban said they carried out the attack, but claimed to have targeted an army recruitment centre. Violence has been on the increase in Afghanistan where tens of thousands of foreign troops are based. The attack comes one day after the Taliban attacked a branch of Kabul Bank in the eastern city of Jalalabad, targeting police and intelligence officers who were collecting their salaries."

Religion kills "At least 36 people were killed in a stampede Monday when a crowd surged against a metal barrier after a Muslim ceremony, Mali's minister of interior security and civil protection said. ... Sadio Gassame said the stampede at Bamako's Modibo Keita Stadium took place during a ceremony marking the Muslim holy period of Maouloud. The incident occurred as tens of thousands of people were attempting to leave through a metallic enclosure. ... Anguished families gathered outside the capital's Gabriel Toure Hospital where the staff was preparing to post a list of the dead. At least 64 others were wounded."